Venkatesh Iyer couldn’t deliver on the heavy price tag once more and tanked with the bat in the match against Gujarat Titans at Eden Gardens. Venkatesh, for whom KKR spent a massive INR 23.75 crore, is becoming one of the biggest flops of the season. The left-handed batsman scored 14 from 19 balls at a subpar strike rate of 73.68 on Monday during a 199-run chase. He could not get going on a difficult batting track and did not hit a single boundary in his time in the middle.
Poor Numbers Reflect Struggles of Venkatesh Iyer in This Season
The left-handed batsman has been a huge disappointment for the defending champions and made only 129 runs in 8 games at a lackluster average of 25.80.
The giant price tag on his head also brings him into the scanner whenever he walks out to bat, and the pressure is not at all assisting him.
KKR paid Venkatesh Iyer ₹23.75 crore to:
– Kill our title defense
– Torture us with brain-dead batting and clownish fielding
– Trigger collapses and ruin momentum
– Keep KKR fans in weekly depression pic.twitter.com/Z1jLmO48j9— StarcyKKR (@StarcKKR) April 21, 2025
Venkatesh Iyer test-match masterclass. 😍
— 𝒇 𝒂 𝒓 𝒊 𝒉 𝒂 ❄️ (@lucidchaosx) April 21, 2025
Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan Keep Firing for GT
Earlier, KKR had lost their openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (1) and Sunil Narine (17) at the start of the powerplay, putting pressure on Ajinkya Rahane, who yet again flourished and scored a courageous half-century off 36 balls. The skipper kept the runs coming in his partnership with Venkatesh, who struggled during his time at the crease. Washington Sundar caught the left-handed batsman off R Sai Kishore when he swept the ball over mid-wicket.
Asked to bat first, Gujarat Titans put up a strong 198/3 thanks to impressive innings from opening duo Shubman Gill (90) and Sai Sudharsan (52). Gill was poised for his first ton of the season but was dismissed for 90 off 55 balls, swat-flicking a full toss from Vaibhav Arora straight to Rinku Singh at deep square leg, short by 10 runs. His knock contained 10 fours and three sixes. Along with Sudharshan, Gill contributed 114 runs for the opening partnership.
Though Jos Buttler got off to a good start, the bowlers restricted him, and he remained unbeaten on 41 off 23 balls (8x4s) without hitting a single six, following his slow knock against GT, the fans on social media criticized him for his batting strategy in a tall chase.
